Season 2, Episode 12:

Resurrection Ship, Part II

The episode begins with Lee floating in space alone, watching the Galactica and Pegasus battle the Cylons. As he floats, he imagines himself floating on the surface of a body of water…

Two days earlier, Kara is discussing her role in assassinating Admiral Cain with Bill. He tells Kara that she can bring Lee along as backup, and stresses the importance of the mission.

In Pegasus's brig, Helo and Tyrol are still sitting in their cell when a group of the ship's crewmen walk in. They bring up Thorne's death with both men, then begin beating the pair with soap wrapped in towels. Soon after, though, Fisk arrives at the cell and orders all of the crewmen to leave immediately. As Helo and Tyrol try to recover from what just happened, the former tries to give the XO his thanks. Fisk tells them he doesn't want it, and tells them that Thorne was a friend to the other crewmen, before saying that it's impossible to rape a machine.

Elsewhere, Cain is sharing a drink with Kara, and tells her that Bill has placed a lot of trust in her. She relates to Kara all of the crewmen who've died under her watch, and tries to justify her actions towards Helo and Tyrol. Cain concludes by saying that Kara shouldn't flinch when she performs a "horrible sin", leading Kara to become uncomfortable in light of the conversation she just had with Bill earlier.

While both sides gear up to enact the attack plan, Bill meets with Sharon in his quarters, and asks why the Cylons hate humanity so much. Sharon, referencing his speech to the Galactica crew during its decommissioning ceremony, asks whether humanity itself has asked whether it deserves to survive.

Both fleets begin the attack on the Cylon fleet, with a Basestar being destroyed in the opening moments of the battle. As the fleet continues to engage Vipers and damage the Resurrection Ship, Lee (piloting the Blackbird) disables it with targeted fire. However, as he moves to escape, a disabled Raptor crashes into him, compromising the ship's systems. Lee is forced to eject before the Blackbird is destroyed.

Lee floats in space and watches the final moments of the battle, where the Resurrection Ship is destroyed, he realizes that his suit is leaking air. He imagines himself floating in water, and as Dualla tries to contact him, he refuses to answer. Eventually, he takes his hand away from the leak, apologizes to Kara and lets himself drift into unconsciousness as another Raptor arrives to rescue him.

On Pegasus, Baltar is still speaking with Gina in her cell during the battle, and relates a story (told to him by Head Six] last episode) about their love of pyramid games on Caprica. Gina realizes that the Resurrection Ship has been destroyed. Soon after, Baltar calls one of the Marines into the cell, where Gina breaks his neck and takes his pistol. She asks for Baltar to finally kill her, but he admits to her that he loves her and that he wants her to get revenge for what has happened to her.

As both fleets are celebrating the victory, both Bill and Cain decide to rescind their assassination orders. Kara is understandably relieved when Bill indicates that she won't have to go through with the order, while Fisk laughs out loud in Galactica's CIC, to the confusion of Tigh and the rest of the command staff.

When Cain returns to her quarters, she is confronted by Gina, who asks if the Admiral can roll over or beg, repeating the taunts Cain made about her in the previous episode. When Cain remains defiant, Gina shoots Cain in the head.

A funeral is held for Cain soon after, with Kara speaking admiringly of the Admiral, Helo and Tyrol being released from the Pegasus brig and Bill telling Roslin that Gina has disappeared from the Pegasus. Afterwards, Kara goes to visit Lee, who is recovering in his bunk onboard Galactica. Lee admits that he didn't want to come back alive, while a worried Dualla listens from outside the room.

In a meeting onboard Colonial One afterwards, Roslin tells Bill that the Fleet will need an Admiral due to having more than one Battlestar, and awards Bill with a formal rank and his Admiral's pips. Bill thanks Roslin, and gives her a kiss, before leaving, although Roslin's cancer is taking its toll on her…

Tropes

• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Gina kills Cain, after Bill was unwilling to do so.
• Call-Back: The assassination plans are clearly based on Boomer's attempt to assassinate Adama in "Kobol's Last Gleaming", by waiting for the end of a successful mission when things are chaotic yet everyone has their guard down.
• Continuity Nod: Sharon references Bill's speech to the Galactica crew before its intended decommissioning (from the Miniseries) while speaking to him in his quarters.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The combined might of Galactica and the Pegasus results in at least one Basestar being destroyed outright at the beginning of the battle, along with the Resurrection Ship. According to the following episode ("Epiphanies"), the Fleet only loses a total of four Vipers during the battle.
• Death Seeker: Lee briefly gets a bout of this after ejecting from the Blackbird during the battle. He later tells Kara (with Dee listening in) that he didn't want to make it back alive.
• Despair Event Horizon: Lee crosses it after being ordered to take part in an assassination. After he ejects from the damaged Blackbird and oxygen begins leaking out through a hole in his suit, he eventually gives up trying to plug the hole and lets himself drift out of consciousness (or sink underwater, in his hallucination). Fortunately, a Raptor picks him up right after.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Baltar tells Gina that he loves her and that he used to buy two tickets for the Pyramid game, "One for me and one for you," even though it was Caprica-Six he was involved with.
• Ejector Seat: The Blackbird was fitted with one which Lee uses to escape after a Raider crashes into it.
• Field Promotion: Bill is promoted to Admiral of both Battlestars by Roslin, in an informal ceremony after Cain's assassination.
• How We Got Here: The majority of the episode is a lead-up to why Lee was floating in space in the opening.
• In Medias Res: The episode begins with Lee floating in space watching the battle, just before flashing back to the planning of the attack.
• Innocently Insensitive: When Lee is shocked to hear from his father that the assassination of Admiral Cain was Laura's idea, Bill comments that Laura is made of sterner stuff than people realize. Bill appears not to notice that to Lee that implies that he (Lee) isn't.
• Irony:
  • Cain tells Kara not to flinch when it comes to committing a "horrible sin", while the woman Cain is speaking to has been ordered to assassinate her in the near future.
  • As Kara and Fisk pass each other in the corridor, they each wish the other good hunting re:their respective missions, not knowing each is supposed to assassinate the other's commander.
• Mirthless Laughter: Fisk bursts out laughing after the successful destruction of the Resurrection Ship, due to Cain reneging on her plans to assassinate Bill and the rest of the command staff (which he was to carry out).
• Moral Myopia: Head Six is enraged that the Colonials will "murder" thousands of inert spare Cylon bodies when they destroy the Resurrection Ship. She of course doesn't seem to care that the Cylons had murdered billions of living, breathing humans when they nuked the Colonies.
• Pet the Dog: After having executed her XO, had a prisoner of war tortured and gang-raped, and ordered the deaths of multiple civilians who resisted the cannibalization of their ships, Cain finally shows a spark of decency by calling off the hit on Adama. She's shot by Gina before we can see if her behavior would have improved after this.
• The Plot Reaper: Cain is killed off by a third party (Gina) after neither she nor Bill can go ahead with the plan (unknown to each other) to assassinate one another.
• The Power of Love: Baltar convinces Gina to survive and escape from the Pegasus because of his love for her.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  Cain: Frak you.
  Gina: You're not my type. (pulls the trigger)
• Rank Up: Roslin promotes Adama to Admiral after Cain's death.
• Riddle for the Ages:
  • Baltar somehow smuggles Gina off Pegasus and into a safe place in the Fleet after she kills Admiral Cain. This was deliberate; the writers decided not to show the ins and outs of her evading Marines and so on.
  • Why did Cain call off her plot to assassinate Adama? Did she decide it was the wrong thing to do? Did she decide it wasn't worth the potential consequences? Did she grow to respect Adama? Did she feel threatened at having Starbuck nearby? Was she afraid Fisk and his marines would fail? Was she afraid Fisk and his marines would refuse? Did she suspect that Adama was also plotting against her, but backed down, and so decided to return the favor? Cain doesn't survive the episode, leaving her distinctly out-of-character decision forever a mystery.
• Ship Tease: Bill plants a quick kiss on Laura after helping her stand up. This was unscripted and improvised by Olmos.
• Shout-Out:
  • The sequence where the Pegasus crewmen beat Helo and Tyrol is inspired by Full Metal Jacket, where a group of angered recruits do the same thing to one of their own.
  • The scene where Lee watches the battle while adrift is inspired by a real-life incident during the Battle of Midway.
• Suddenly Shouting: SHUT YOUR FRAKKING MOUTH!
• Undying Loyalty: Kara chooses to carry out her mission even when Lee is a no-show, meaning she'll be almost certainly killed by Cain's guards without backup. Even her implied admiration of Cain doesn't beat her loyalty to the Old Man.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The plans for the attack and the assassinations are set out in detail, with suspense provided by wondering how the latter is going to turn out.
• Wham Episode: Cain is killed, Lee and Kara are both promoted to commanding roles on the Pegasus and Bill becomes the Admiral of both Battlestars.